This was supposed to be the year Daryn Colledge ran out of chances.
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Allen Barbre was supposed to beat him out for the starting job at left guard. When Barbre didn’t, rookie Josh Sitton was supposed to get the nod.

But sometime during the Green Bay Packers’ offseason-long guard derby — perhaps, because of it — Colledge made the leap the team had been waiting for.

In his third NFL season, Colledge has done more than hang onto his place in the lineup. He’s arguably playing the best and the most consistently of anyone on the offensive line.

“You always feel like people are writing you off, because they are,” Colledge said this week. “People in the paper saying you’re going to be there until the other guy is at a position where he can play. But you just use that as motivation.

“I knew who I was. I know what I’ve done. I know the success that I’ve had. I’ve had my ups and downs, but I continue to go out there and compete every single week and continue to go out there and try to show the Packers that I’m the best answer at whatever position I’m playing.”

For the first time since the Packers selected him in the second round (47th overall) of the 2006 draft, Colledge is removing doubts about whether that position in the long term can be guard, where he’s started 38 NFL games after four standout seasons as a tackle at Boise State.

He lost his starting spot in each of his first two seasons, only to regain it by the end of the year. It appeared he might be replaced again several times the past six months — when Barbre split time in organized team activities and minicamp, when Sitton moved up to the first unit in training camp and as recently as when Barbre played a couple of series on Sept. 14 at Detroit.

But coaches opted to stick with Colledge, who has rewarded their patience by playing the best football of his young pro career the past two months.

“He had a very good understanding of what he had to do to keep that spot and what was expected of him from us,” offensive line coach James Campen said. “He’s fulfilling those as he goes along. He’s not there yet, but he’s getting closer and closer to getting there.”

That was evident throughout last week’s 37-3 blowout of the Chicago Bears. The Packers rushed for 200 yards, doing much of their damage on zone left runs behind center Scott Wells and Colledge, who repeatedly set his side of tight combination blocks and then picked off middle linebacker Brian Urlacher at the second level. Colledge also pulled on a trap toss for a gain of 7, led the way on a shotgun draw for a third-down conversion and drove Pro Bowl defensive tackle Tommie Harris several yards into the end zone on the backside of Ryan Grant’s 4-yard touchdown run.

By no means has Colledge been error-free — he was beaten on a pair of short-yardage runs for loss against Chicago, and his holding penalty contributed to a stalled fourth-quarter drive the week before at Minnesota. But he’s done a better job staying on his feet, keeping his head up and finishing blocks while also displaying improved awareness. He’s avoided the big mistake in the passing game since Sept. 28 at Tampa Bay, where his indecisiveness on a blitz pickup led to a drive-stifling sack, and he even held up well as an emergency starter at left tackle when Chad Clifton had an adverse reaction to medication shortly before kickoff on Nov. 2 at Tennessee.

“His pad level is down,” Campen said. “His hand placement’s better. His knee drive, his leg drive is better. He’s more consistent with his base, and that’s a byproduct of the work that he put in and the coaching that he got in that weight room.”

One of the team’s stronger players, Colledge (6-4, 308) spent the offseason diversifying his training, improving in less conventional lifts and exercises during long days with strength and conditioning coach Rock Gullickson. He continues to be one of the team’s most diligent lifters, pushing himself on Fridays when other players do a lighter workout or skip altogether.

“He’s just much more confident with everything he does,” Gullickson said.

That confidence has played no small part in the improvement Colledge, whose contract expires after next season, has shown during what he acknowledged in August was a crucial season for his future in Green Bay.

If he continues to play at this level, there’s no reason to believe Colledge will relinquish his starting job again anytime soon.

“I expect myself to have success in my position now. The excuses are over,” Colledge said this week. “If I’m not producing now, they’re going to find somebody who can.

“Luckily, I’m playing at a level right now that I seem to be able to keep my job, and as long as I’m doing that, then I’m helping this team win.”